Dow Jumps 400 Points; US Economy Adds 253,000 Jobs In April

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining over 400 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.26% to 33,544.63 while the NASDAQ rose 1.33% to 12,125.04. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 1.26% to 4,112.45.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares rose by 3.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Enviva Inc. EVA, up 13%, and SandRidge Energy, Inc. SD, up 10%.
• In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

The US economy added 253,000 jobs in April, beating market expectations of 180,000 and versus a revised 165,000 gain in March. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in April, versus market expectations of 3.6%. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% to $33.36 in April.

Equities Trading UP

• Nanobiotix S.A. NBTX shares shot up 155% to $5.11 after the company announced it is entering into final contract negotiations after agreement to a non-binding term sheet for development and commercialization of NBTXR3 with a major global pharmaceutical company.
• Shares of Leju Holdings Limited LEJU got a boost, shooting 54% to $3.90.
• Baosheng Media Group Holdings Limited BAOS shares were also up, gaining 49% to $9.19.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Soligenix, Inc. SNGX shares dropped 49% to $1.16. Soligenix priced its 6,538,500 share public offering at $1.30 per share.
• Shares of DermTech, Inc. DMTK were down 34% to $2.07 after the company reported wider-than-expected quarterly loss.
• AlTi Global, Inc. ALTI was down, falling 26% to $4.69 after the company announced commencement of exchange offer and consent solicitation relating to warrants.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.3% to $71.53 while gold traded down 2.3% at $2,008.30.

Silver traded down 3% to $25.45 on Friday while copper rose 0.7% to $3.8905.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.8%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7% The German DAX rose 1.1%, French CAC 40 rose 1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 2%.

Retail sales in the Eurozone dropped 1.2% month-over-month in March versus a 0.2% decline in February. The HCOB Eurozone construction PMI rose slightly to 45.2 in April from 45 in the prior month.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI rose to 51.1 in April from 50.7 a month ago, while Italian construction PMI climbed to 49 from 47.4. French construction PMI rose to 46 in April from 45.3 in March, while German construction PMI declined to 42.0 in April from 42.9.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.50% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropping 0.48%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.1%.

Foreign exchange reserves in Hong Kong fell to $427.4 billion in April, the lowest level since December 2022. The Caixin China General Services PMI fell to 56.4 in April from March’s reading of 57.8.

Economics

The US economy added 253,000 jobs in April, beating market expectations of 180,000 and versus a revised 165,000 gain in March. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in April, versus market expectations of 3.6%. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% to $33.36 in April.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,762,790 cases with around 1,162,400 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,960,670 cases and 531,600 deaths, while France reported over 40,007,280 COVID-19 cases with 166,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 687,576,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,869,690 deaths.